No, not true. Though she’d been a toddler when they’d died in a tragic car crash, sometimes she dreamed about the vehicle flipping over, heard the sound of screams and grinding metal, felt warm blood dripping all over her as she struggled to escape her car seat. Nola tensed, the echoes of memory flaying her heart.

Where are you, Bane? Silence.

Please, talk to me. Again, silence.

She closed her eyes, envisioning her golden god. Tall and muscular, intense and masculine. Aggressive and savage. Carnal. Mysterious and dominant. She waited, hoping, praying, but she didn’t travel to him. Dang it!

Bane! she shouted. Speak to me. Now!

A sense of connection tingled soul-deep, and she thought, hoped, she had reached him this time. Then she heard —What’s wrong, princess?—

That worked? Sweet validation! The shifter’s voice had infiltrated her mind, a homecoming of sorts. Unless this was a—

Stop! I’m not delusional. Despite her fear of Bane, despite his abysmal treatment, she’d kinda sorta...missed him. He’d been part of her life for years. And, though his tone brimmed with contempt, she experienced a tsunami of relief. He lived!

But why did he hate her?

There had been a few times he hadn’t looked at her with disdain. No, oh no. He’d looked at her with hunger. Remembering, she shivered.

—Princess?—

Right. I’m sick...hurt so bad. In the cave, you made me feel better. Can you do it again? Begging the guy who considered her garbage? Well, why not? Pain stripped her of pride.

—Come to me, like before.—

How? She’d tried everything she knew to do.

—Instinct, perhaps? I am unsure. Unlike you, I don’t have the ability to teleport.—

Confirmation: she had teleported.

She told him, Last time, I thought of you. For my return trip home, I thought about escaping you. Now I’m overthinking about you, but I’m not teleporting.

He made a sound of fury and frustration. —Command me to come to you, then.—

So, he couldn’t come to her without a command?

Welcoming a combatant to Zion’s dimension would be a full-on betrayal. But he’d abandoned her and withheld information. Or he’d...died, and wasn’t ever coming back. Her stomach twisted, and she dry heaved.

The pain... She would rather die than endure another minute of this.

Before she started blubbering, or talked herself into standing down, she blurted out, I command you to come to me right this instant.

With her next inhalation, the scent of exotic spices and masculine musk filled her nose. Heat dribbled through her veins, her stomach calmed and the body aches faded. Tears of bliss cascaded down her cheeks. Then Bane appeared, right there in the heart of the jungle, and Nola gasped with surprise and delight. She’d done it. She’d actually teleported him. How?